Two Sides of a Coin
by birdiebrain
Summary: Maybe she was heads and he was tails. Was she the representation of light and he was of darkness? After all, the two elements coexist and work together, just as the two sides make up and complete a coin. What's one without the other? Vanitas/Xion.


Two Sides of a Coin

Disclaimer: I don't own the brilliance called Kingdom Hearts.

A/N: An attempt at making this overlooked pair work in a canonical sense. Enjoy? Yes? No?

…

There wasn't much around to look at, she figured. Empty and pure white light surrounded her senses. It was a blank canvas needing much work and paint to be done, but she wasn't a witch of memories that cherished so dearly the artistic aspect life offered. No. She was Xion. The replica created to be used as a pawn by Organization XIII. In the end, Roxas, the best friend she could ever ask for, proved that she was as real as anyone else.

She was vaguely aware that she was one with Sora and joined with Roxas and Ventus within his heart. Xion knew Roxas, and knew that he changed after his memories of her were forgotten. Slowly, ever so agonizingly, she felt that he was gathering his thoughts of her. She knew Ventus too, that he shaped Sora into what he was now. She could only but thank him for that.

Her conscious and thoughts would come and go, taking form in the white abyss depending on her strength of mind and self awareness. Unlike Roxas and Ventus, she was irresistibly curious. The two would choose to rest and meld with Sora, but she liked being hard to cooperate with and would gather herself just enough to roam the endless expanse called a heart. Xion would even say she _felt_ something beckoning to her, to try and dare her to find it.

There was once when she thought she located a tiny, black speck marring the beautiful and hollow void of nothing. It flickered and the excitement of her possible discovery made her lose hold of herself, forcing her to rest and regain her senses before she could go off on another expedition. The once turned into twice, when she had gotten closer to the intriguing object and found it hazily resembled that of a male.

Soon, she repeated to herself. Very soon she would be able to be near enough to the shape and find out what it was. And that time was perhaps nearer than she thought. The moment when she _did_ manage to stumble across it again. Xion was looking right at it, _him_. A boy, a figure so similar to Sora, but not exactly him. His hair, charcoal. His eyes, golden and fierce and _dead_.

It didn't take an Ansem the Wise to figure it out. He was trapped in what resembled a bird's cage. Pure white, powerful, and warm. It was that of light. But he was so dark, Xion thought. The air swirling about him was faint, but still strong with the scent of darkness. His glare struck her when he tilted his head just enough from his crouched position to look at her in the eyes. It stopped her cold in her tracks and she couldn't help but wonder as a shiver ran through her. Was he a part of Sora that was involved in him turning into a Heartless so long ago? How it, as a consequence, formed Roxas?

"You need something?" he spoke hoarsely, the words laced with malice. It was like he hadn't used his voice in ages.

Xion was taken aback that he had even said anything. She recollected her shambled mind enough to shake her head as a response. The gesture earned her an impolite scoff from him. Did his seclusion make him bitter over the time? Or was it the fact that if anyone was trapped in something of a cage, make them livid about almost everything? But the real question should have been…

"Actually, I'm Xion. Who… are you?" she asked him hesitantly but with the air of a purpose. Her painstaking travels would not go to waste after she finally found what she had been unknowingly looking for.

He cast her a raised eyebrow before looking back at the blank ground. "Vanitas." he answered after what seemed to be a moment of contemplation. He cracked a small, weary, and cruel smile directed at the ground. His croaky voice grew steadier with each word he uttered, becoming attuned to talking once more.

"It's not a who, but a what. An entity of darkness, but here I am. Wallowing away in this desolate place barred behind this."

A slim, black-clad finger rose from his side to rap against a column of light before quickly pulling it away with speed she hadn't encountered before after the contact was made. She couldn't help but compare his reaction to someone burning their finger from touching a too hot pan on the stove. Perhaps the light had stung him? He was, after all, a being of darkness.

Vanitas seemed finished with talking. She could tell by looking at his reclusive form and blank eyes looking out into the distance with yearning to be free. Xion allowed herself to empty her mind and evaporate back into Sora, finished with her excursion for the time being. Numerous thoughts ran through her. Wasn't he lonely? How can he be so cold to someone just trying to be kind to them? Why did he seem to interest her so?

She knew he was different, just like her. Ventus was real and Roxas was such a special case of a Nobody with emotions that he became just as real. She was an imitation, a fake, someone that wasn't supposed to have existed at all. And naturally, that had made her the odd one out. But Vanitas, he was made entirely of darkness and confined in light. Separated from everyone and everything in Sora's heart. It was so strange that she wanted to know more about it. About _him_.

He received constant visits from Xion after that. Some times he would refuse to talk and she would be fine with it. They would sit in an almost comfortable silence and she would hold a one-sided conversation with him, telling him tales of her life during the Organization and her achievements when she faced against Heartless and Lesser Nobodies. Other times, reluctant at first, he would pitch in his thoughts about her stories or share some of his own. They were small and curt sentences about his role with trying to open Kingdom Hearts and creating a second keyblade war.

His eyes would show a sign of life when he talked about his plotting against the other keyblade wielders, she would notice. The golden eyes that were so dim would radiate and shine with enthusiasm and mischief. Xion became rather fond of when he acted like that, she just wished it wasn't only when he talked of cruelty and destroying friendship. It made her want to understand him.

The word 'friendship' made her wonder. Did he consider the two of them as friends? She'll admit that although she seemed to just be an annoyance to him, he didn't particularly seem to mind her company nowadays. Vanitas would actually be looking up from the ground expectantly whenever she came within range of his domain, almost like he'd been waiting for her daily visit. Xion decided to do something different when she visited him this time to settle her qualms.

"Vanitas?" she called out when she sat down beside him, separated only by the wispy bars. She never really liked them. It was like a barrier between them. Like they weren't supposed to interact. He made a small grunt indicating he was listening.

"Are we friends?" Xion asked quietly but as nonchalant as possible, uneasily shifting in the spot.

She could taste the seriousness and worry her voice held. It was the first time either one of them had asked a question concerning _them _and_ now_, and not of their past. Her head was promptly buried between her arms after the three words. For some abstract reason, she found she was just so uneasy about what his response could be. Yes? No?

She knew she valued their camaraderie, whatever extent that was. And she even hoped that he no longer found her a nuisance, but saw her more as a companion. Someone to help him get away from the loneliness he was thrown upon in Sora's heart of light. A person that made him feel like a who, and not a what. Xion just felt the need to understand him. To be with him. To help him. It tug at her insides and she realized. She had grown to love him for everything he was and wasn't.

Vanitas closed his eyes, hiding away his beautiful and lethal golden eyes. He let out a low breath. A sigh? Xion tensed her shoulders and couldn't even breathe. Was he letting out an exasperated breath while thinking just how foolish she was for even suggesting such an idea? The concept of friendship with her, was it revolting? The answer she was waiting for, she almost couldn't even sit still and wait long enough to hear it.

His eyes opened slowly to look at her figure, so weak and fragile she must have felt. Almost as if the tiniest touch could shatter her very existence. Which might as well have, as Xion continued to inwardly dread the silence from him and even more so for all the possible words that could come out of his mouth.

"Even after all this time," he droned almost boringly. "You have to bother asking that? How pitiful."

Xion raised her head quickly from her arms, unaware of the small tear trails forming on her features. All the anxiety and fear she felt weighing down on her mind obliterated after his words. They weren't sweet like that of a lovers'. But they were honest words from Vanitas that held promises and assured her their friendship was real and true.

She smiled a genuine smile for the first time since she could last remember and felt the cold wetness stinging on her cheeks. Hastily wiping it away, she could see the smallest of smiles being reflected back to her on Vanitas' lips. It was another first for them, both smiling earnestly at one another as a small laugh escaped from her mouth, too overcome with joy. She looked back into his eyes and felt her love for him multiply.

Xion put her palm up against the bars, feeling the pressure trying to push her away. It was like a warning sign telling her 'do not cross'. Vanitas looked so solemn to her, the way his eyes were so soft and gentle now as he looked at her. His hand was raised and placed itself to mirror her own, but only a margin away from coming into contact with the barrier. She wanted to cry. The pain welling up in her chest clouded her mind. The two couldn't even touch. Only speak and watch one another.

The sadness sobered her and she hesitantly withdrew her hand back, still trembling from her realization of the cage Vanitas dwelled in. He was trapped while she was a free bird to fly where she wished within the heart, only because she was on the side of light. She got up on her own two feet, aware of the pair of eyes glued to her every move. With a smile holding promises of another visit quite soon and a tender wave, she closed her eyes and let her thoughts wash over her as she disappeared again in front of his watchful gaze.

She didn't know if she could bring him to love her as much as she loved him, but she would not stop visiting him. He was now her daily reminder that she was real and not the odd one out as being part of Sora. She was going to make sure he was never again lonely and engrain into his mind that she would be there for him. To complete him as they were two different entities that couldn't survive without the other.

Maybe one day, Xion mused, the two of them wouldn't be separated by such a thin wall of light and suppression.


End file.
